


When To Quit

by jesuisherve



Series: Escaping The Tomb [2]
Category: Escape Plan (2013)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gay Male Character, M/M, Nightmares, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-13 07:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1218106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesuisherve/pseuds/jesuisherve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part two of Escaping The Tomb. Ray and Emil's relationship is growing. Jessica has completely accepted Ray as part of the family. Emil is determined to continue is work despite how dangerous it can be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They had come to an understanding when they were still together. Abigail occasionally dated other people while Ray was on the inside. Ray sometimes spent months away and it wasn’t fair to her to expect that she wait for him every single time. The understanding was, however, that they would not get emotionally involved with other people. Ray never begrudged Abigail the men she chose to sleep with or see for awhile when he was gone, and in return he never gave Abigail a reason to doubt his faithfulness. They always reunited once he was free; at least they had before he had gone into the Tomb, letting whatever happened while they apart be forgotten. But Ray had fallen for Emil. He broke their number one rule. He got emotionally involved. To make it even worse, he couldn’t leave those feelings in the Tomb where they developed. He brought them back into the real world and they festered into something that poisoned what he once had with Abigail.

Ray did not regret his past relationship with Abigail, nor did he regret the current relationship he had with Emil. He treasured both only in different ways. He loved Abigail still, but loving someone was not always the same as being in love with them.

 

* * *

 

Emil was strangely tense when Ray told him that he was going to break out of another prison. It was a maximum security facility, opened two years ago in another state. Emil encouraged Ray to do it. He said it would be good for him to keep at it, to reclaim the mental space that had been taken over by the trauma from the Tomb. However, his words were stilted with some unnamed emotion. “Don’t you think I can do it?” Ray asked.

“Of course,” Emil told him. “I know you can do it.”

“Then what’s going on with you?” he demanded.

Emil leaned with his hands on the kitchen counter. Ray was standing by the stove and watching his boyfriend’s back with his arms crossed. Emil sighed. “This is going to take more than a few weeks for you to break out of.”

“Probably.”

“Seems like a long time.” Emil straightened up and turned to face Ray. They never spent more than three weeks at a time from each other, and always because Emil had to fly out for his work. Even then they remained in sparse contact whenever Emil could manage it without compromising whatever he was doing.

“It’s not like the Tomb,” Ray said gently. “I’ll be allowed to talk to people on the outside.” He smiled wryly. “Maybe I’ll write you some love letters.”

Emil snorted. “Fuck. Love letters. You getting sentimental?”

Ray wrapped his arms around Emil’s middle. “Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t cry when you got them. You’re a fuckin pussy when I’m not here.”

 

* * *

 

Jessica visited Ray in prison five days after he was incarcerated. They spoke through a sheet of glass through telephones with guards watching carefully from both sides. “Dad’s in Germany.”

“Fuck. Really? When did he leave?”

“Last night.”

Ray rubbed his face. Emil had discussed returning to Germany a few times. Ray was always against it. They didn’t know how much Hobbes had really discovered about Victor Mannheim. Ray had fed him bogus information but who knew what Hobbes could have uncovered by himself? “He’s a fuckin idiot.” Ray growled. “Have you heard from him since he left?”

“Yes,” Jessica held up her cell phone to the glass for Ray to see. It was a message from Emil over a web-based messaging service that would be harder to trace than an SMS text. _“Landed”,_ it read, _“Safe. Love to both.”_

When Ray nodded to indicate he had finished reading, Jessica deleted the message.

“That fucker,” Ray muttered. _Love to both._ Love to Jessica, love to him. “I wish he woulda told me he was leaving.”

“I think he didn’t want to upset you,” Jessica made a neat gesture with her hand, motioning to their surroundings. “Or distract you from this. He should be back before you’re out. I just thought you needed to know he was gone.”

“Thank you.”

Visiting time was coming to an end. Ray gave Jessica a few code words to pass on to Abigail and Hush for him. Jessica was not part of the plan originally but Ray knew to take advantage of anything that could make the escape easier.


	2. Chapter 2

It took a month and a half for Ray to escape. Once he had broken out and covered everything he needed to cover with the prison’s warden and administration, he drove nonstop until he got home to the apartment. He had only a single missed message on his phone since being on the inside. It was from Emil and it was only twenty-four hours old. It was a text that said: “ _Home. Hurry back. I love you.”_

The apartment was unlocked when Ray arrived. He was exhausted but elated. Emil was home. It had been too long since they had seen each other. “Emil!” Ray called as soon as he opened the door.

“Ray!” Emil’s voice came from the living room. Ray didn’t bother to take off his jacket or shoes. He went straight for where his boyfriend was.

Emil’s right arm was in a cast. It was the first thing Ray noticed. It was bright white and in a sling. Ray gaped at it. “What the fuck?”

“There was a little accident,” Emil said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“What happened?” Ray pointed at it accusingly.

Emil walked towards him to give him a one-armed hug and kiss him. Ray absently returned the kiss but remained focused on the cast. Emil lifted the broken arm a couple of inches before letting it rest in the sling. “Got into a scrap in Germany.” Emil glanced at Ray to see a horrified expression. “I took care of it. Look, everything’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” Ray snapped at him. “They broke your arm! What if they managed to hurt you worse? Break your spine, or kill you?”

Emil shook his head. Ray worried too much. He had been doing this for years. He wasn’t afraid. His number one enemy was law enforcement and he was good at evading them. His number two enemy was the banks he fucked over, and they were impeded by having to seem like they were obeying the law. Any attempts at taking him out illegally had failed. The Tomb had failed to keep him, a cut-rate hit man was nothing compared to that.

But there was no use telling that to Ray. He would worry no matter how Emil justified his actions.

“If it makes you feel better,” Emil said, “I won’t leave for awhile. I won’t work until the cast comes off.”

Ray hugged him, careful of the cast, and buried his face into the crook of Emil’s neck. “Good. And no more leaving without telling me. I’m pissed that I had to find out from Jessica.”

 

* * *

 

“Have you ever thought of retiring?”

The question was abrupt. It was a Tuesday morning and Emil was brooding on the couch. The cast made everything very difficult. He hated how clumsy and useless it made him feel. Ray had stepped into the living room for a moment. He was getting ready to leave for work and was tying his tie when he asked the question.

“Have you?” Emil shot back.

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“Oh.”

Ray checked his tie in the reflection of his cell phone. It was a little crooked but for some reason he couldn’t get the knot to sit right. He loosened the tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt. He could go a little casual today. He glanced at Emil, who looked deep in thought. Ray considered retiring often. He was older now and his work was physically demanding. He was set for money; it was not an issue for him. He could retire if he wanted and would never have to work again. He wasn’t sure that Emil would ever retire but he hoped he would consider it. Emil’s work was very different from his. They were both driven by a sense of justice, but Emil’s ideology was more concentrated than Ray’s. A modern day Robin Hood. It was his sense of justice and dedication that would drive him to work until he dropped dead or was physically stopped by something else.

“Do you want me to quit?” Emil asked.

“No,” Ray said hesitantly. Then, a little firmer, “yes. I do. You could get killed or arrested for real. The Tomb doesn’t count because it was illegal. You can’t break out of a legitimate prison and get away with it if you’ve actually committed a crime.”

Emil’s eyebrows rose. “So you think I’m a criminal?”

Ray grimaced. Fuck. “Technically, yeah you are.”

“Is what I do wrong?”

“Emil,” Ray groaned. “You’re picking a fight because you’re bored. You know I don’t think that. But yeah, you’re a criminal because you’re breaking laws. I don’t wanna see you in jail though, or hurt.”

“Have a good day at work,” Emil said, effectively ending the conversation. He was annoyed. Ray rolled his eyes and left. The door slammed behind him.

 

* * *

 

“Have you met my dads?” Jessica smiled at the man who had come to stand beside her at the bar. He had put his hand on her shoulder and presumed that she would be charmed by his forthrightness when he ordered her a drink. The man removed his hand and looked at the two men approaching the bar. The tall one had a cast on but moved in a way that said he wouldn’t be opposed to breaking that arm again. The other was a bit shorter but carried himself like a champion prizefighter. The man told the bartender to cancel the drinks he ordered and retreated quickly.

“Darling,” Emil smiled warmly at his daughter.

“Hi Dad. How’s your arm?”

“Good. Itches like a motherfucker,” Emil said in a plaintive voice.

“Did you call us your dads?” Ray asked and leaned on the bar in the space that had been previously occupied by the man who made a hasty getaway.

“You two are scarier that way.” Jessica said sweetly. “Rather than, ‘have you met my dad?’ or ‘have you met my dad and his boyfriend?’. Rottweiler dads are a much better deterrent.”

Emil laughed. “Rottweiler? Is that what we are? Ray, you seem more like a mutt to me.”

“Look who’s talkin. I never seen a bigger mutt in my life.”

“Rottweiler, Rottmayer,” Emil said in a musing tone. “I think I might be purebred.”

Ray grinned and shook his head. He ordered a beer from the bartender and said, “Jessica I’ve been tryin’ to get your dad to consider retiring.”

“Don’t start with this,” Emil groaned. “Fuck off, Ray.”

Jessica shrugged her slim shoulders. She had never known her dad to do anything else. She worked for him and knew the risks he took, and knew the dangers of their job. A tiny part of her thought Ray was right. Her dad should retire. He was older now, and if he was caught he could end up in prison for the rest of his life. He had done well so far, the Tomb had been the only major instance of him getting caught, but that was an incredibly unique circumstance. She wasn’t sure that he could pass himself off as Emil Rottmayer instead of Victor Mannheim if he was caught again.

“You’re not siding with him, are you?” Emil grumbled.

“Well, he has a point, Dad. It could be time to retire the whole operation. You don’t have to do this forever. You’ve helped a lot of people. I think it would be smart to quit while you’re ahead.”

Emil muttered something angrily in German. Jessica laughed but Ray missed what he had said. He didn’t ask for a translation.

“There’s nothing wrong with quitting now,” Jessica said, “and how can you help anyone if you get caught, or killed?” she tapped on his cast. “What would Ray and I do if that happened?”

“You could always work with me,” Ray said. “I could always use another business partner. And we work well together.”

“Almost too well,” Jessica said with a humorous glint in her eye.


	3. Chapter 3

_Dark. It was dark. Ray’s eyes were wide but there was no light for them to absorb. His breathing began to hitch. He wheezed and coughed. Enclosed space. A muffled voice outside. Ray pressed his hands with flat palms ahead of him. The coffin. He was in a coffin. He hammered on the lid with clenched fists and began screaming._

_“Let me out!”_

_The muffled voice from the outside grew slightly louder. Ray could make out words. A eulogy. It was a sermon. The speaker was a priest. Ray kicked at the coffin as best he could. There was weeping. The smell of incense and burning candles flooded him. He felt the skin of his knuckles split as he continued pounding on the coffin lid. Blood ran down past his wrists. It was warm._

_“I’m alive!” Ray screamed. “You can’t bury me!”_

_The priest’s voice was louder. It wasn’t like he was trying to talk over Ray’s desperate screams. It was as if volume on a microphone had been turned up. Either everyone was ignoring Ray or they couldn’t hear him._

_Ray’s voice choked out into a sob. The priest’s voice was familiar. It was soft and deadly like a needle hidden in silk. It was Hobbes. The priest was Warden Hobbes._

_Abigail was crying._

_“Let me out!” Ray resumed pounding, kicking, and scratching at the coffin. He had to escape. He had to get out. Abigail was crying. He could hear her. “I’m not dead!” Pain flooded his body as one of his fingernails snagged in the wood and tore off. “He’s not a priest! Don’t believe him!”_

_The coffin shuddered. Ray’s stomach plummeted and he knew he was being lowered into the ground._

_“No!”_

_There was a thump from above. Dirt was being thrown on the coffin. Hobbes was still talking. The eulogy was over but he talked still. “We’re going to bury you, Mr. Breslin. You shouldn’t have tried to escape me. You should have known that I would find you in the end. I do not lose, Mr. Breslin. Try finding your way out of this.”_

_More dirt thumped on the coffin lid. Ray was suffocating. How many hours minutes seconds of air could he have left? He had wasted so much by screaming. He was shaking with silent sobs. His hands were sticky with blood. It was dark. So dark. Abigail was crying. Where was Emil?_

_“I killed him,” Hobbes’ voice seemed to come from inside the coffin. Ray smashed his hand against the lid again. Bones shattered and he cried out as Hobbes’ voice spoke to him in a quiet monologue. “I killed Emil. I killed Victor. He’s buried, same as you. I killed Emil. I killed Victor. He’s buried, same as you. I killed Emil. I killed Victor. He’s buried—”_

Ray awoke with someone shaking his shoulders. “Ray.” It was Emil. “Ray, talk to me.”

“Lights,” Ray rasped. His throat hurt. Had he been screaming in his sleep?

Emil flicked on the bedside lamp and Ray squinted against the light. His hands were trembling. Emil’s face was white. “You were dreaming.”

“I dreamt Hobbes killed you,” Ray said, dropping his face into his hands. His eyes hurt. He rubbed them and took a wavering breath. “Sorry I woke you up.”


End file.
